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Erie's McDavid named OHL Player of the Week

Erie Otters center Connor McDavid, a candidate to be the first pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, on Monday was named Ontario Hockey League Player of the Week.

McDavid led the league with 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in three games and also finished with a plus-8 rating in that span.

He had a goal and three assists in an 11-2 win against the Plymouth Whalers on March 5, including a spectacular move through 2014 draft prospect Alexander Peters to score. He had two goals and two assists in a 6-1 win against the Windsor Spitfires on March 7 and had goal and two assists in a 7-3 triumph against the Kitchener Rangers on Saturday.

McDavid's scoring efforts helped Erie win all three games and reach the 100-point mark for the first time since 2001.

He ranks fourth in the OHL with 93 points in 53 games; no other player in the top 20 in the league scoring race has played fewer games. He also had four points in seven games for Canada at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship, becoming the sixth 16-year-old to play for Canada's national junior team.

McDavid was granted exceptional-player status by Hockey Canada in 2012, making him eligible for the OHL draft as a 15-year-old. He was selected by Erie with the first pick and had 66 points in 63 games en route to being named OHL Rookie of the Year.

While McDavid can't play in the NHL until the 2015-16 season at the earliest, NHL Central Scouting's Chris Edwards believes he will be in the discussion with many of the premier players ever to be drafted.

"Connor has proven that the OHL made the right decision to grant him exceptional status," Edwards told NHL.com. "If he were eligible for the 2014 draft he would be a high first-round pick because Connor reminds me of a veteran OHL player. His skill set is high end; his puckhandling and passing skill are also outstanding. He's creative and sees the ice well."